Sidepodradio - Sidepodspace //Introducing the science and space segment of the broadcast

Gosh, that title has way too much 'sidepod' going on. Initially, I had planned to write a short post for each of the Sidepodradio shows encouraging audience interaction. Steven suggested the hosts write their own posts, and offered to do the first one.

When Sidepodradio became reality Christine volunteered me to do the Sidepodspace show and since I have been too shy to refuse I guess I will have to do it.

The show is going to be 30 minutes on many if not all aspects of space that have been discussed on Sidepodcast in the past year. One day last year I mentioned that I was watching the preparations for a space shuttle launch and after a few questions and answers we ended up with a group of us watching. Since this is Sidepodcast, we live commented the launch. Once the launch was complete people started asking why the shuttle had been launched, where it was going and what it was going to do so now we watch launches, landings, spacewalks etc, as well as playing I Spy from the point of view of an astronaut on the ISS. As a result of all the interest in matters astronomical, we have this show.

The show covers a range of topics but a quick rundown looks like this:-

Space rocks - do we need to cryogenically freeze Bruce Willis now?

Jupiter strike – What happens when a big rock hits a huge planet?

The moon – Is it really made of cheese?

Manned exploration – Where have we been and where are we going?

The sky – Is it really space and how much does it weigh?

I have already received a lot of questions from commenters on subjects as diverse as what falls off the shuttle during a launch, how to navigate through asteroid belts, what is the correct downforce settings for a GP on Pluto and should we be going to Mars now.

I will also be revealing the answer to the question, the ultimate question, the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything: Has there ever been a Major Tom in space? If you want to know the answer you have to listen to the show and who doesn’t want to know the answer? Who was David Bowie really singing about and does the revelation of Major Tom’s real identity – should he exist – change the meaning of the song?

There is already a lot of content in the show but as ever I would love to have more questions on any aspect of space that people are interested in. No question will be neglected and left to stand unanswered, unless I don’t know or can’t find the answer. Don’t think any question is silly or too simple. If it is something you want to understand just ask. The show can be about some aspect of space that interests you or it can just be me waffling away about the bits that interest me and no-one really wants that. Really you don’t. I can spend 30 minutes discussing Neil Armstrong’s middle name and for some reason people find that boring. Who knew? To make sure you don’t have to listen to that, ask me about something you find more interesting.

If anyone would like to be on the show please let me know. It doesn’t matter if you just want to ask a question, express an opinion or have a full blown argument over whether we should be spending money on space, whether the Apollo landings were faked or whether it is a bad idea to replace the space shuttle with an old fashioned rocket stack with a capsule on the top. Any participation will be welcomed.

Please feel free to leave any comment on this post or on the show page. You can also email questions to Christine, who will happily pass them along: christine at sidepodcast dot com.